79. How ADHD entrepreneurs can find more energy

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In this episode, I'm telling you the

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smorgasbord of energy tips to help you be

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more productive and more healthy in your business.

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Hi, I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and money mindset coach, and

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welcome to the Weenie cast, Squirrel. This

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may very well be the least sexy episode that

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we've ever done of the Weenie cast. And now that we've lost all the listeners

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that are only here for the sex appeal, let's talk about the secret to

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you having more energy, to being healthier and getting

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more done. And as you're listening, I guarantee you

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one thing. You're going to have moments where you're going to be like, okay,

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mom, so if you want to call me Mama McManus for

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this episode, have at it.

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Before we get into this, I want to just acknowledge the elephant in

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the room of the term self

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care and how it typically gives people with adhd

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more anxiety than it does relieve it. When

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we hear of self care things that we need to do, it doesn't sound like,

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oh, wow, that would be so nice. Yes, I should absolutely do that. Wow, that

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would be so enjoyable. When we hear a list of self care things that we

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should be doing, we think, oh, there's more I should be doing.

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Damn it. Like, is there enough time? How would I do that? Can I

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multitask it? Will people notice if I have a face mask on while I'm on

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a Zoom call with them? Maybe I'll just have my video off. Maybe I can

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take client calls while walking my dog. And our brains go into

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hyperdrive trying to figure out all the ways that we can

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multitask all the things that we need to do, which we know never

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works. We might do it once, and then we forget about it because it

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doesn't become a habit, because it's not easy to do. So

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when we're talking about these things, forget the label self

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care. These are critical things that you need to prioritize in

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your day to day that will help you have more energy.

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And when you make time for these things, and they will take time,

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you will actually be able to get other things done faster.

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In a world where we're trying to go faster and faster and faster and get

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more things done in less time, we're constantly breaking, we're taking

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shortcuts that actually don't get us to where we want to go. I mean,

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if you were to open up any social media platform right now, I guarantee

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if you scrolled for two minutes, you would see an ad

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where someone's promising to show you how to use AI

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to create content faster, to lose weight faster, to

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organize your kitchen faster. I don't know, like they're using AI for crazy things right

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now, but the truth of the matter is to go

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faster, you actually have to go slower. And that is

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so not sexy to say, but it's true.

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And before we get into it, I want to show you how you, as an

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ADHD person, as an ADHD business owner, are actually set up

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to get more done by slowing down than a

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neurotypical. And I know this from experience because this is true

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for me. I'm going to use the example of one thing that I do every

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single day, and that's walk my dog. Now, on the days where I'm walking my

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dog and I'm trying to like do phone calls and touch base with people on

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my team and I'm checking all the comments on my LinkedIn post

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and I'm looking at my email like while she's sniffing around, not while we're

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crossing the street, but we're safe when we cross the street. On those days where

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I try to get all this stuff done during my walk,

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I actually get less done overall because on that walk I'm not

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actually relaxing. I'm not actually letting my mind clear. I'm not actually

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connecting with the love of my life, Luna, my sheepadoodle.

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And when I get back to my office, to my desk, my brain is

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frantic already. It doesn't know how to prioritize, right? It has all

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these things going on in the back of my mind because it was just

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running the whole time I was on this walk. And

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instead of coming back with purpose and with

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a creative idea and with intent to get something done,

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I come back just a complete mess of anxiety.

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On the days where I purposely don't have my headphones in, I

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have my phone in a pocket that zipped up and I'm

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not reaching for it every second when it buzzes. On those days where I'm

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enjoying the walk and I'm looking at the trees and I'm talking to

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my dog because we have conversations, as most dog owners

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will know, and as I'm just enjoying being outside and

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I'm enjoying moving my body, on those days as I'm

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out, I have ideas for what I want to do. I'm

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able to clear my mind of all the clutter and really understand

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what is the thing that I'm most excited about getting done that day.

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And usually when I hone in on what that one thing is

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I get so excited for an idea that I have about how to do it

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that'll make it more fun and more interesting for myself on

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these walks, if there's something in the back of my mind that's stressing me

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out, walking actually helps me alleviate the stress.

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This also happens when I work out, like, when I'm on my peloton or I'm

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lifting weights. There's a moment, and I'm sure this is familiar to

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you, there's a moment when you're in your workout. Like, it's really hard when

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you're stressed out about something because you're constantly thinking about it,

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and it's so hard to describe the sensation,

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but it's almost like those little notches that they put in maple trees

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to drain the. The stuff that they make maple syrup with.

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It's almost like that gets tapped into your ankle and out of

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your ankle, drains all of the anxiety and stress that you've been

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experiencing. And you never know when it's gonna hit in your workout. Like, sometimes it's

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in the five minute mark, but sometimes it's like 29 minutes into

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your 30 minutes workout. But

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the sensation is absolutely incredible. Like, your body

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lets go of the cortisol and the adrenaline,

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which, by the way, if you're constantly in a stressed

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out state and you have adrenaline in your system, adrenaline can only

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be moved out of your body through movement. You can't drink enough

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water to wash adrenaline out of your system. You have to move

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it out. You have to go and get exercise. You have to get your heart

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rate up. It's the only way adrenaline moves out of your system. You know, I

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don't care if you need a dance break in between calls where you're feeling a

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lot of anxiety. If you have adrenaline in your system, move it out of your

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system. So after a walk where I'm really focusing on just being on the

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walk and letting myself enjoy it and letting myself experience it, and I come back

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to my desk, I get the first thing done, and that leads to me getting

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the second thing done, and that leads to me getting the third thing done.

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When we slow down to speed up, usually the thing that we do to slow

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down, the thing that sets us up for success, going for a walk, exercising,

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meditating, sitting down, and actually eating breakfast

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and focusing on breakfast and maybe having a nice time

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talking to loved ones as you have breakfast without trying

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to multitask in that moment. What it does is it sets you up

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to mono task for the rest of the day. It tells you

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the world is safe. This is actually a very secure

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environment. You don't have to rush. We're not in fight or flight.

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You can be creative. You can ease into your work. And

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we all know this when we're in our most

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creative and grounded state as ADHD

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people, we figure out the laziest way to get

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things done. We figure out the hack that works best for us.

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We learn how to multipurpose all the things in a way

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that's really elegant. But when we start our days trying

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to multitask, the most basic things, you know, taking calls

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on your, on your walk with your dog, answering emails, responding

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to texts, doing all those things, what we actually tell our nervous system

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is that this is fight or flight. We're fighting a battle on every

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front. Everything is urgent. Panic, panic,

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anxiety, anxiety. This is scary. When we get back to our desks,

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we don't have that focus. We don't have access to our creativity because we're

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actually in fear mode. Of all the things that we need to get done, and

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because all the things that we need to get done are now associated

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with fear, we don't get dopamine from them. Like, we can get

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two or three of those things done and we won't get any dopamine from it

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and we will not be able to go on and do more work for the

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day. Now, I explain all this to you because I want you to understand the

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things I'm going to tell you to do to be able to boost your energy

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and be healthier and be happier in your business. Your

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brain is going to go, I don't have time for that. Are you

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crazy? Like, there's no way. Have you seen my to do

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list? And I don't have to see your to do list,

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but I know that it doesn't matter what's on your to do list.

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Creating time to do things that take care of your wellness, things

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that boost your energy in the morning or earlier on in the day,

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will set you up to be able to get those things done faster with more

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creativity, having more fun. And because you're more

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creative and you have more fun doing them, they're going to be far more effective

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in your business. So are you

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ready for your first okay, mom moment? Because you have to

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eat. As ADHD people, we constantly forget to

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eat food. And I want you to think about it like this. If you were

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to get in your car and it like, had only like an 8th a tank

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of gas and you started driving, would you expect the car to be

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able to get to a point that's 200 miles away without filling

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up the tank? Absolutely not. The car

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cannot run without gas. That's just how cars

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work. They require gas to run. Human bodies

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are similar. We require calories

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and water to be able to run effectively. So one

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of the most important things that you can do to

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guarantee you get things done throughout the day is to eat breakfast

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and eat lunch and to make sure you're hydrating throughout the

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day. And as I say this, I want to just do a disclaimer. I'm not

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a nutritionist. I have no training in

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telling people what they should eat. I only know this from my own experience

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and from what I have learned from nutritionists who have advised me in the past.

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But you need protein and you need carbs. One of the most impactful things

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I've done for my adhd and my ability to focus on things throughout

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the day is by making sure that I'm getting between 20 and 30 grams of

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protein before noon. And actually, the sooner you can eat it

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or get it in your system after you wake up, the better it helps your

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metabolism. I think I'm actually going to completely misquote the science

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here. I think it does something with your blood sugar.

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It helps you, like, stabilize it throughout the day. It makes sure that you don't

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have crashes, essentially. It helps you have sustained energy.

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Now, that said, I know a lot of people out there are like, oh, I'm

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cutting carbs. I'm cutting carbs. Dude, stop it. Your brain needs

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carbs to work. There's a reason why we've had

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carbs for millennia. We've had bread, we've had

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grain, we've had rice. I mean, except for people with celiacs, it hasn't killed

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anyone. Like, Sophia Loren even pointed to her body

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and was like, everyone, this is the result of eating

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pasta. You need carbs to be able to think clearly.

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So I don't care what you have for breakfast, but make sure that you're getting

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some protein and you're getting some carbs. And if possible, limit the amount of

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sugar. Sugar for an ADHD brain, I'm sure you've

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experienced this. It makes us kind of go crazy. It spikes

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our anxiety, we burn through it really fast, and then we

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crash and we need a nap. And nothing against naps, I'm a

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big fan of a granny nap. I actually have granny naps most

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days, at least 20 to 30 minutes. Highly recommend

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them. But what I don't recommend is setting yourself up

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to need one because you're giving yourself a ton of sugar every

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single day, the

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next thing that will help you be more productive. And I know,

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like, this is an idealized world, right?

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For those of you who have kids, who have a lot of responsibility,

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do what you can. There's no perfect, okay, you don't have to go

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to the gym for a full hour for it to count. Do squats for ten

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minutes, do 50 push ups and 50 squats and call that a

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day. But exercise studies have shown

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that lactic acid, which gathers in your muscles

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when you do exercise, actually helps our

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brains, the ADHD brain, focus more. That's the least scientific

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way I'm going to describe it. But if you can make your muscles burn a

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bit in the morning, it's going to help your brain focus later in the day.

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And of course, I'm not a personal trainer. I don't know what physical shape you're

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in. If there's any question, I want you to check with your doctor before you

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do any physical exercise. But know that if you can

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and if it's healthy for you, exercise will help you be more effective

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in your work. It'll give you more energy, it'll give you more ability to

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focus, and it will lower your anxiety.

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The next one. I know you're probably tired of hearing this if you don't

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already do it and you're not already sold on it. Meditation. Meditation

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is one of the best things you can do for your mind to help you

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really calm your nervous system and be able to focus on

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one task at a time. Now, meditations can come

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in all different shapes and sizes. You can have guided meditations

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that you can do on an app. Those count. You could do transcendental

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meditation, which is what I do, where you sit for 20 minutes twice a day,

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and you have a mantra. You can do a walking meditation. The

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Japanese call it tree bathing or forest bathing. I'm actually not sure what

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they call it, but you can go for a walk in the woods, and it's

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very calming. You can go to the beach and you can watch the waves.

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Hell, there's a mindfulness meditation technique where you

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eat a grape. You eat a grape and you just focus on the grape. And

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actually you can eat a raisin. It's more complex. You're focusing on

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all the different aspects of a single raisin that you can

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observe, and it gets you so hyper focused into it

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that ten minutes goes by like nothing. And it's

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incredibly calming. And at the root of it, I want you to think about it

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this way. If you create a practice where you sit

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and you're still and you have your eyes closed. Even if you're

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just listening to a guided meditation, you know what you're training your nervous

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system on. The world is safe enough for me to sit here

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with my eyes closed. Your nervous system takes cues from

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your actions. If you're running around like a chicken with your head cut off, your

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nervous system is thinking, oh, God, something's wrong. We

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shouldn't be like, there's something not safe about our environment. But if

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you're sitting with your eyes closed, that's a very

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vulnerable position, and you're not moving and you're just

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listening to a thing or not, or you have a mantra, whatever,

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your nervous system is going to pay attention and think, oh,

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cool. It's safe enough for us to sit here with our eyes closed and

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be vulnerable. Amazing. And when our nervous systems

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understand that, it lowers our anxiety and it makes us

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better able to access our creativity and to

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get more done later. Slowing down

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to go faster actually works. Now, the last

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bit I want to talk about is, ooh, what am I going to say next?

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Well, you'll have to keep listening to find out. But first, squirrel, squirrel,

00:15:29
squirrel, squirrel.

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Now, the last bit I want to talk about is rest.

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And I want to just come out of the closet and name that. I am

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a recovering I'll sleep when I'm dead kind of person. I used to rob

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myself asleep at every chance I got. I would constantly burn

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the candle at both ends. I would stay up late, I would get up

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early, and then I would crash and burn on the weekends

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and all weekend. I would just have to recover

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from killing myself at work and killing myself having fun and doing

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all these different things and not getting enough sleep. Getting enough sleep is one of

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the best things you can do for your brain. Studies have shown that your

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brain actually doesn't have, like, a waste removal system like the rest

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of your body does. Okay. The only time your

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brain is actually able to declutter and get rid of dead

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cells. Anything that's problematic is while you're

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sleeping. It's the only time. So,

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literally, if you're not giving yourself enough sleep, and I'm talking seven

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to 9 hours, and those of us with ADHD, we actually

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need more sleep than neurotypicals because our brains work harder

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throughout the day. If we're not getting enough sleep, I want you to imagine,

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like, a city dump and people are

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dropping off garbage and dropping off garbage, and it's just sitting there and it's

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not being moved off site. Like, that's what's happening in your brain.

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It's becoming a disgusting, clogged

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up, smelly mess, and the people who work there want to quit.

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Okay? That's what happens in your brain when you don't get enough sleep. And

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I say this knowing that we all live human lives where this

00:17:11
is not always the case. Okay? If you have a dog, I know. You know,

00:17:15
there's moments in the middle of the night where you start hearing that sound,

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that sound where they're about to throw up, and then you have to get up,

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and you have to deal with it. And if you have kids, worse, sometimes they

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come and they're like, mommy, mommy. And then they throw up on you, and then

00:17:28
you have to do laundry. On top of everything, sleep is not always the

00:17:32
thing that we can plan on getting enough of. But if you have the

00:17:35
best intention and you set up your schedule

00:17:39
to enable yourself to get enough sleep, it is an absolute

00:17:43
game changer. And, yes, sometimes your job as

00:17:47
a business owner, when you haven't had enough sleep and

00:17:51
your brain just isn't braining, is to literally go and take a

00:17:55
nap. I know it feels super lazy. It feels very

00:17:58
indulgent. But I want you to look at it from this perspective.

00:18:01
You charge a lot of money for your work. Your clients expect

00:18:05
the best from you. How can you deliver the best

00:18:09
if your brain is not at 100%? You can't.

00:18:13
By you trying to push through exhaustion, you're actually doing

00:18:17
a major disservice to your clients. I want you to imagine it's

00:18:21
almost like a breach of contract. Part of the contract you have with your

00:18:24
clients is that you are going to take care of your brain so that your

00:18:27
brain can provide the service to them at a top level. For

00:18:31
you to fulfill on that contract, you need to have enough sleep. And sometimes to

00:18:35
have enough sleep, you need to take a nap. It's honestly, like, the best

00:18:38
thing about running a business. Like, I don't know why more business gurus don't

00:18:42
try to sell on the naps alone. Like, here they are, like,

00:18:46
sitting on private jets, waving money around, and all they have to do

00:18:50
is just, like, film themselves taking a nap, and I'm sold.

00:18:54
Sign me up for that. Sign me up for, like, what

00:18:58
soft pants are you wearing? Oh, that looks like a cozy weighted blanket. Mm

00:19:01
hmm. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Oh, you have the sound machine on.

00:19:05
Oh, I told

00:19:08
you this is not a sexy episode, but maybe I lied.

00:19:12
Cause I know, I know napping does it for me anyway,

00:19:19
and that's it if you wanna be really good in your business, if you

00:19:23
want to be healthy, if you wanna get more stuff done in less

00:19:27
time, you need to slow down. You need to

00:19:30
schedule in these basic

00:19:33
wellness activities into your day. You need to do

00:19:37
them one at a time. No multitasking to

00:19:41
the best of your ability and it will help you have greater

00:19:45
access to your creativity, less anxiety, and a

00:19:49
better ability to figure out the best way to get all the

00:19:52
big projects done in the most lazy way possible

00:19:56
while still being incredibly effective. And if you

00:20:00
really enjoy the sound of my voice and you would like me to guide you

00:20:03
through some meditations, one of the benefits of being a hyper

00:20:07
focused member is that you have access to a library

00:20:11
of guided meditations that are designed to help you

00:20:14
be more focused and more creative in your business. And if you want

00:20:18
access to those, then I urge you to get on the waitlist.

00:20:22
Membership will be opening soon and you can find that

00:20:26
link in the show notes, but it is also

00:20:28
weeniecast.com

00:20:32
hyperfocus. If you're ready to stop being a

00:20:35
weenie and actually run a business that makes money, then go ahead and book

00:20:39
a generate income strategy call with me by going to

00:20:43
weeniecast.com strategycall.

00:20:47
On this call we will talk about your goals, your dreams,

00:20:50
and your frustrations in getting there. And if it's a fit

00:20:54
for both of us, then we can talk about different ways to work together.

00:21:02
Boom. I got excited about the word smorgasbord.

00:21:06
Squirrel, squirrel, squirrel, squirrel.